The ex-Los Angeles police officer who has allegedly gunned down three people and remains on the lam once handed in nearly $8,000 of church money that he found in the middle of the road, it has emerged.

Then-Navy ensign, Christopher Dorner, was hailed a hero in Enid, Oklahoma, after he and a military colleague found the bag of cash back in November 2002 and promptly handed it to police. The pair told a local newspaper at the time that the good deed was 'an integrity thing.'

The bag of money turned out to be donations collected by the nearby Korean Church of Grace during a Sunday service. It had slipped off the roof of church member Byung-Moon Jang's car as he was driving it to the bank.

Now, 11 years later, Jang said he was shocked and 'truly troubled' to hear news of a national manhunt for Dorner, who he recalled as selfless and honest.

'I feel sad to hear that. We thought he was so honest and a young American man with a bright future,' Jang told Koco.com. 'To hear this news is truly troubling.'